Danish Distillers on the job

Published: 23 July, 2008

Absolut to be centralised into separate stand-alone divisions

Vin og Sprit, the Swedish owner of Absolut vodka which is at the centre of the purchase of the Seagram drinks business, has restructured, following its take-over of Danish Distillers. The Absolut business will be centralised into a separate, stand-alone division. The Den Danske Spritfabrikker, or Danish Distillers, business will be split, with Nordic Distillers covering the traditional Akvavit and bitters business in the traditional Scandinavian markets. The International Brands division will look after Danish Distillers' new vodka brand, Danzka, and Vin og Sprit's recently acquired Plymouth Gin brand and Frs, another new vodka. Best known for Peter Heering cherry liqueur, Danzka vodkas, Xant the Poire au Cognac brand and the largest producer of Akvavit Danish snaps, Danish Distillers is looked after by Phillips Newman in the UK. Torben Mller-Andersen, who heads the International Brands division, told Harpers he would like to re-establish Peter Heering, which used to be a 60,000-case-a-year brand, but now sells approximately 1,000 cases. It has been squeezed out by the Dutch liqueur brands, Bols and De Kuyper, which both offer cherry as one of a range of fruit liqueurs. The group also has high hopes for Danzka, the vodka range packaged in aluminium.

*** RELATED STORY:

The latest rumours on the Seagram front are: a) Vivendi is going to scrap the auction, buy the whole of Seagram and sell the drinks division to Pernod Ricard and Diageo (Sunday Times, 19 November); b) Vin og Sprit is close to agreeing an international distribution deal with Maxxium, whose shareholders include Rmy-Cointreau, Fortune Brands and Highland Distillers (Sunday Business, 19 November).